Users Rules & disclaimers

ozVolks Forum was established in 2002 to create a friendly environment for all VW enthusiasts to interact in a laid back, family-oriented environment. In order to foster this friendly interaction and create an environment where all VW enthusiasts feel comfortable posting and hanging out, we have created a set of rules and guidelines which all members are required to follow. These rules are general in nature, as it is impossible to spell out every possible offence that may result in a thread being locked, deleted, or edited.

The rules are as follows:

1. Expletives (swear words) are not allowed, and for good reason. Many people are deeply offended by vulgar language. If you feel you must swear to get your point across, please censor your language appropriately so as to not be overly offensive. (EG: "S***!") Replacing one or two letters in an expletive by using ASCII characters (! for I, etc.) is not an acceptable solution.

2. Spamming, or business advertisements by businesses is not allowed. Threads determined to be spam will be deleted, possibly without notice. Excessive advertisement of other forums is also considered spam, and will be dealt with accordingly. Please read the commercial advertising section. Please direct related inquiries to admin@ozVolks.com

3. Flames or derogatory insults are strictly against the rules. If you disagree with another member's point of view, do so in a mature and civil manner. If someone posts to discuss their personal problems or seek help from other forum members, please do not respond unless you have something positive or helpful to add. If you find yourself being flamed or insulted by another member, please do not dignify that person with a response. Notify a moderator and let us handle it. If you feel you must respond to a flame or insult directly, please do not do so on the board. Use private messages or e-mail.

4. Threads or replies promoting or expressing racist or sexist views will not be tolerated.

5. Users are only allowed one username on this forum, and are only allowed to join once. People found with more than one user account will have them merged at best, and at worse, they will be removed from the system.

“6. Users are not allowed to use their company name or reference to any commercial sitesin their ozVolks username, and/or their signature unless they are a current forum sponsor. If the sponsorship is not renewed, then the link in the signature, and/or the name of the individual must be changed and/or removed.”

7. Porn is not welcome here. We are a family oriented forum and any X-rated pictures will be deleted.

8. Avatars and Signatures: The same rules that apply to your posts apply to your signatures and avatars. Please keep this in mind when selecting your avatar or signature.

9. "Free posts", or posting solely for the purpose of boosting your post count is also not allowed. Many people judge member's credibility based on post count, so we ask that you obtain your post count legitimately. Furthermore, free posts waste server space and ISP bandwidth unnecessarily.

10. Please post your topics in the most appropriate forum. (IE: A3 threads only in A3 forums.) If you post a thread that would be more appropriate in another forum, a Moderator will move it for you. However, please do not make the Moderators do this for you. Use your judgment to determine which forum best suits your topic.

11. Controversial topics, such as religion, abortion, racism, etc. will not be allowed. Although these topics usually start out civilly enough, experience has shown that these sorts of topics invariably disintegrate into all out flame wars and heated arguments.

13. Threads / replies encouraging other illegal/unethical action (Like "Best way to kill neighbour’s dog?") will not be allowed.

14. "Poop" threads, or similarly immature and offensive topics will not be allowed.

15. "Trolling", or makings posts with the sole intention of creating problems on the forums is obviously against the forum guidelines. This includes registering an alternate ID for the sole purpose of creating problems on the forums. Troll ID's will be locked immediately and permanently, and can be locked without notification to the offender.

16. ozVolks reserves the right to verify the identity of any user, this information will be used for internal use only & not supplied to any third party. Failure to identify yourself if requested will result in suspension of your account.

18. Threads / replies attacking ozVolks forum sponsors will not be allowed. If you think you have the right to, contact a moderator before you post.

19. Posting a thread, replying to questions, or criticising a Moderator/Administrator's actions is not appropriate in a public forum. Please utilise the board's private message function, or e-mail, if you wish to discuss these issues. As long as you bring up your concerns maturely and civilly to the Moderator or Administrator in question, we will do our best to address your concerns fairly and promptly.

20. If you wish to copy a picture or something, make sure that you ask the author/owner for permission so we don’t have any copyright issues.

21. ozVolks reserves the right to investigate any communication via this forum (either post, private message (PM) or other) that constitutes the breaking of one of the above rules (eg, commercial selling via PM's).

22. If you receive a ban or infraction (temporary) for any reason, you must abide by the ban/infraction period. If you try and re-join the forum with another username/ip address during the ban period, you will automatically be banned for life. You have obviously done something wrong, so take it on the chin and work to the motto, 'you've do the crime, you serve the time!'

Here are the "Do's" and "Don'ts" of addressing your concerns to Moderators or Administrators:

"Do" be civil and polite. Bring up your concerns in a mature and respectful manner. If you are contacting us because you violated forum guidelines, be adult enough to admit your mistake. If your ID has been locked for some reason, talking politely to us about it in private, via e-mail or private message, can get your ID reinstated in many cases.

"Do not" be derogatory or insulting toward us. You will not get what you want by name calling or bashing us.

All we ask is that you treat us the way you would want us to treat you. If you treat us with respect, we will do the same for you.

Please realize that the nature of the offense will determine the action to be taken. If the violation is extreme enough, or has been repeated enough times in the past, a member can have his/her ID locked without a warning.

Threads or replies that do not comply with our guidelines may be locked, edited, or deleted, depending on the nature of the offense. We will make every effort to state why such action was taken via private message, e-mail, and/or Moderator reply in the offending thread. For this reason, we ask that you check your private messages often. You can find out whether or not you have received any private messages by logging into your user Control Panel. You can set your options so that the board notifies you when you have received a private message, if you so desire.

The above rules and guidelines are necessary to make VW Australia Forums comfortable and enjoyable for all VW and automotive enthusiasts. If you feel you cannot comply with the rules above, please refrain from using VW Australia Forums.

Disclaimer
ozVolks.com does not represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any of the information, content or advertisements (collectively, the "Materials") contained on, distributed through, or linked, downloaded or accessed from any of the services contained on this website (the "Service"), nor the quality of any products, information or other materials displayed, purchased, or obtained by you as a result of an advertisement or any other information or offer in or in connection with the Service (the "Products"). You hereby acknowledge that any reliance upon any Materials shall be at your sole risk. ozVolks.com reserves the right, in its sole discretion and without any obligation, to make improvements to, or correct any error or omissions in any portion of the Service or the Materials.

THE SERVICE AND THE MATERIALS ARE PROVIDED BY ozVolks.com ON AN "AS IS" BASIS, AND ozVolks.com EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS AND PRODUCTS. IN NO EVENT SHALL ozVolks.com BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE, THE MATERIALS AND THE PRODUCTS.

ozVolks.com encourages you to exercise discretion while browsing the Internet using this directory. The directory may direct you to sites containing information that some people may find offensive or inappropriate. ozVolks.com makes no representations concerning any endeavour to review the content of sites listed in the directory or any of the Materials, and so ozVolks.com isn't responsible for the accuracy, copyright compliance, legality or decency of material contained in sites listed in the directory or in the Materials.

ozVolks.com respects the rights (including the intellectual property rights) of others, and we ask our users to do the same. ozVolks.com may, in appropriate circumstances and in its sole discretion, terminate the use of ozVolks.com by any member that infringe or otherwise violate such rights of others. We also do not take any responsibility for any linking to or from our site to any other site on the INTERNET.

We are not in any way affiliated with the VW, the VW Motor Company, or VW Australia.